I forgot to say that I think the Thundercloud Gray would nicely link your marble and the Whipple Blue.

If you have decided to not go with a blue-gray, maybe the right yellow would work.

If you want light, fun, a little vintage, then I think a pale green or yellow is the way to go. I like the Linen color you posted. I think the blues and grays are a bit more somber. Do you have dishes or accessories that you want to compliment, that might factor into the decision?

I don't really care for the Dark Linen, looking at it online. It has a gray/green to it that I think makes it kind of muddy. I think a pale yellow would really give your kitchen that vintage feel and be great with the Whipple hoosier built-in, though.

BM Lemon Ice

Not a ton of wall space, but the sink wall will have no uppers and it is the wall you see when you walk into the kitchen. Here's a rough drawing to show the elevation of that sink run.

I will take a look at some yellows. The small chip I have of dark linen looks really good with the marble though and those two will be pretty prominent on this wall as the marble will also be the backsplash here. The yellow chip I randomly out next to the marble didn't look as good.

The only open shelves I am planning will hold clear drinking glasses so no color issues there. If I ever wanted to display dishes, mine are all blue and white.

Here's a mostly blue vintage kitchen for further entertainment:

I like the sterling best so far... I don't care for the blue stream-- too much of a baby blue for the kitchen. patriotic white doesn't have enough of a hint of blue in it, imo... go somewhere in between patriotic white and sterling if the sterling is too gray for you. you have to be careful about the whites with the Carrera, imo because certain whites(esp the yellowish ones) can really make the marble look 'off ' /less attractive...

I'm really just not loving the idea of grey walls.

Love the Fanfare or the Sterling

The lemon ice is similar to a color I used in a kitchen with white cabinets. You have to be careful with yellow and white, at least for my taste, You have to have enough contrast to make the pairing with the white look good without letting the yellow become too strong. The cleaner the white, the easier I think that may be to accomplish. But you still have to be careful with your marble -- and you won't be able to tell that from a sample. Your actual slab and the cuts from it can make a big difference.

Busybee might be right about the blue stream looking baby blue -- especially if you have a full wall that will be open and painted that color. Your wall color is a major feature then, not like mine where it is almost a second trim color.

The linen is not looking muddy on my screen, but it is changing colors in the different lighting. Last night I was seeing more hints of sea to lime green in it and today it is looking more beige (lighting is everything). The Gossamer is a similar color with less green. There are a lot of variations on that theme in grey or beige with green undertones -- or you can veer into a truer green that might play better with the marble than the yellows.

I really appreciate the input from everyone! It's going to be a few days before I make it back to the paint store--silly kids think I should feed them and go to little league games and such. So I won't have any more samples to show for a few days, but I didn't want you all to think I had dropped out of the conversation. I will definitely be checking in and will probably do three or so more samples next go-around.

I'm going to ask dh what he thinks about green. I'm not sure about yellow. I love yellow, but I'm not sure with the marble. I will see what pictures I can find of these combinations.

Here are some yellows and greens with marble:

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You have those kind of kids too, huh? They want to be fed three times a day plus snacks plus the activities, homework and just the daily life issues. Make the investment -- it pays off.

The yellow walls/white cabinets kitchen I had didn't have marble -- it was white laminate. No problem there. ;-) Have you tried searching the kitchen photos on Houzz to see if you can find yellow and marble combinations? You might also look for blue and white combinations and see what other colors are paired with them. Something you might be able to do while you wait for a time to make it back to the paint store. ETA: Someone beat me to the idea and gave you a headstart. :)

Thanks! The pictures are great. I poked around quickly myself. I'm noticing that the pictures I like with yellow don't seem to have the yellow right against the marble. The greens seem to all look good to me even right next to the marble. Green is tricky in my house because dh and I don't usually like the same greens. (This is why I started with blue.).

I will do some more looking and see what dh thinks.

Thank you! The images help a lot. I like this one.

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Maybe that yellow is something along the lines of Benj. Moore's golden straw?

This image from apartment therapy shows Benj. Moore Riverdale green with Palladian blue.

This is the riverdale green.

I would put it on your list and pull a chip for it so you can look at it in your kitchen and with the Whipple blue. When I am closer to the screen, it looks closer to the photo but brighter -- it isn't in shadows, so that makes sense. When I lean back, it is like sour apple candy, I think of Palladian Blue as something on the greener side, so your whipple blue may work differently with the greens and yellows.

Hmmm…I like the green in the swatch but not at all on the wall.

One more thought. I had originally suggested painting the built-in cabinets yellow and dh preferred blue. But since I like the marble next to the blue and the marble won't be on the original cabinets. . . . Maybe I should see if I like and can sell pale yellow for the cabinets and blue for the walls.

The colors in this picture are blue stream and jicama.

Reminds me of 2little fishies' kitchen. Her yellow cabs with marble wasn't my favorite look.

I'd be careful with white and yellow cabinets together in the same room. I think mixing colors works best with a greater difference in color so the combination makes sense. You don't want to look like you ran out and then took the next closest thing so make sure there is enough visual separation and they look structurally different -- different door styles, different hardware, etc. will help.

The pastels are fresh and springy -- make sure you won't feel like you are living with an Easter egg come time for trick-or-treaters.

This is the wall of built-ins.

Sorry it is sideways. This will be restored with original style hinges and hardware. As you can see we've got a pull-out counter that is lower than standard height, no toe kick, partial overlay doors, etc. It will look pretty different from the new frameless cabinets we are putting in on the other walls.

I have actually been a little worried that painting the original built-ins a somewhat dark blue, like whipple blue, would leave the kitchen feeling unbalanced. So it's interesting that there is concern that the colors will be too close together--it's like the flip side of the coin.

Just wanted to add this picture of a blue on blue kitchen I had previously saved.

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Oh, dh vetoes green. So no point in considering the greens. He's willing to consider yellow on the orgininal built ins. . He likes the blue on blue picture I posted above. And he wants me to try a brighter blue for the original built ins.

So I think I'm considering a yellow sample or two and a brighter blue for the next round. Nominations for paint colors to try gladly accepted.

Seeing the builtins now, I'm a bit skeptical about painting them a different color because they take up that entire wall space right to the corner. I can't help but think it will look odd and, as you say, unbalanced. What if you painted just the section with the desk in it and kept the cabs to the right and overhead the same as the other cabs?

Fine Paints of Europe Summer Sky

There's no desk. It's a Hoosier style kitchen cabinet. And I am definitely paint the whole thing one color. Dh wants me to get get a sample of paddington blue. (Soooo bright. But I said I would gladly get a sample.)

Here's yellow and white cabinets together:

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the yellow and white cabinets together look great... it's the Carrera marble slab that is the concern... for me at least :) the combo may not bother you tho....

That's what I meant about the yellow cabs with marble. Yellow isn't the best color complement imo. I would go back to your original blue on blue color scheme.

I was looking to see if I could find any photos of my kitchen from way back. I couldn't. The links and photos from old threads seem to have all gone away.

The fact that it goes to the corner doesn't bother me. It looks like you have additional wall to the left, and that's where I can see you following that blue on blue inspiration. I did a wall of new cabinets in a deep blueberry color. My fridge and an opening to the dining room take up a fair portion of that wall, but everything else, floor to ceiling, is blue. Your blue on blue photo is a two tone version of that same wall of color as a backdrop look.

The color wall will work -- what I can't tell you is how you will feel about taking an older look and making it so updated. It is a bold move because those things are almost always white - occasionally something from a post-war pallette. It won't be a quaint old feature - it will be an updated splash of color. I had people tell me they wouldn't do the blue -- it was too much, would be too busy (white cabinets and cherry island), etc. I love my lue and I've never had a moment's regret.

Thanks! I'm not at all worried about making the built ins a color. My GC, who knows old houses, tells me it was almost certainly a wood finish to start with actually. I briefly considered trying to go back to that, but I love the idea of a fun color more. (And the hinges and hardware have been changed and will be changed again and I think those holes would be harder to hide in a wood finish.)

I think the river stream-- Whipple blue combination is my favorite so far. I think next I will grab some brighter blues and a couple of yellows.

I like the yellow with the blue, but if it were my kitchen and now that I am starting to get a better idea of what you are working with, I think I would stay true to the blue and white (I love blue and white and black and white kitchens anyway -- very classic) and then add some yellow in accessories -- a utensil crock, bowl of lemons, cookie jar, dish towels, curtain or shade, maybe you'll spot some fun yellow dessert dishes or prep bowls that will find a spot on your open shelves. Those aren't major or permanent things you are building around the marble, and you can switch to lime green, sage, cherry red, bright orange, hot pink -- whatever lifts your mood and you want to have fun with. I know that I will always love blue, white, black and most woods. Always. I never have to worry about tiring of them as long as my blues don't go violet or sickly sweet baby blue. If you are the same way about blue, go for it.

If you really love the yellow, not just considering it because locking in on your blue(s) is frustrating, the cabinet will look nice in yellow, but I'm not sure that I would like blue walls starting on that left edge or that I might not feel like there were too many large color blocks going on that way. Look at the big picture.

I have always loved yellow walls--painted them in both previous houses and I'm sure some walls will end up yellow here eventually too. But with this kitchen so small, I was leaning monochromatic and had long been focused on blue. And I'm not loving yellow with carrara marble. Maybe I haven't found the right one. Or maybe it's just not my favorite combination.

I grabbed three more blues, a yellow and a pale grey this morning and will try to paint the sample boards today if I can find time.

Small update and some more samples.

Dh and I decided to see if the built-ins can be restored to their orginal wood finish. There is just one coat of paint on there (not even any primer, jeez). I can tell by the areas that have chipped in the two years we have lived here. But the hinges and other hardware have been changed out and we are going to change them out again and so on. So our GC says he needs to come and look at them again before he can tell us if that's possible.

The advantages are that it would make choosing a wall paint color comparatively easy--we haven't found anything we agree on yet and we seem to be headed on opposite directions on paint colors at this point. And it's always a plus when we can take something back to the original.

I did go ahead and paint some more samples. We will need a wall color either way and we will need colors for the bathroom remodel too.

So here's what I painted:

That's jicama and patriotic white. I like the jicama a lot and I think it actually goes with the marble better than I expected. The patriotic white looks more blue IRL than it does on my monitor in this picture.

That's paddington blue (dh's request) and gray cloud (one of the colors benjamin moore suggests with paddington blue). I actually really like both, but not so much for the kitchen. I think I may suggest paddington blue for the bathroom vanity.

And that's paradise blue (paler) and novia scotia blue (darker). Nice colors but really just a minor variation on the other blues I have sampled.

Let me know if you want to see different combinations. Thanks again for all the help--especially the photoshopping Tribbix!

I like the third photograph best.

I like that first pic. So simple, clean and crisp. I like the very pale yellow with the marble.

Most welcome, crl.

In the second pic I like the marble with the colour that it is sitting on, but I would take away the dark blue and instead use the pale yellow from the first pic (Gray Cloud & Jicama). Just based on the pics (& how it looks on my monitor), I think the Gray Cloud (instead of the Patriotic White) is much better with the marble.

Like the third photo! In the photo of whipple blue in a room posted above, the adjacent color was af-540 constellation, did you have a look at that one? Looks like it could maybe run a titch greenish but might sweeten up on the wall.

Reposting the link: http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/for-your-home/rooms-by-color/calm-and-cozy-home-office

Decor, here's jicama and cloud gray together:

I agree that it is a good combination. But gray walls just don't thrill me. I painted that sample at dh's request. Maybe it will grow on me. I think I would prefer a yellow on yellow with navy accents if I head towards yellow?

Here's another blue and yellow combination:

Sorry about the toes showing. That's whipple blue and jicama together.

Robo, I will take a look at constellation.

Thanks everyone!

Instead of taking a stab at colors you might want to choose some other finishes first and then match your paint to them. So far you have white cabinets with marble counter tops, neutral and very nice! Will you have any backsplash tile, fabric for window covering or chair seats? Is the kitchen next to a dining room that you may want to somewhat flow together? lascatx's blueberry colored cabinets sound lovely. It would be an easy color to decorate with (blue and white dishes, and splashes of yellow). Think about things you will use in the room for inspiration, instead of pictures of someone else's room...although, good golly, we all do that. :-p Ask lascatx what color she painted her walls with the blueberry cabinets. Vintage looking curtains would look cute, maybe a toile? Just a thought.

I think you nailed it in the last pic, whipple blue and jicama. I really love that. I'm thinking the same as Voila-- so pretty with blue and white dishes, maybe some blue and white toile somewhere. Chrome or nickel fixtures and pulls. It's vintage but still current. I can't wait to see it all done!

Backsplash is the marble too. No chairs, this is not an eat in ktichen. Dining room is separated from ktichen by a swinging door and it is revere pewter, painted before we bought the place. I don't dislike it enough to change it, but I don't like it all that much and will change it when the room needs painting. Not planning on fabric for curtains at this point.

Thanks jlc712! I think I have hit all of the major possibilities. So we will wait to hear whether the built ins can be returned to wood finish. If not, I have plenty of samples to choose from and hopefully some combination will suit both of us.

I appreciate all the help from everyone!

I like the whipple blue and jicama. Whatever you decide, please show us how it turns out.

This is a long thread now, so forgive my not going back to search. I think I mentioned that we had tan walls -- a remixed paint that has o color name but it is what was in the adjoining family room, so it went on the very limited kitchen wall space too. I am in the process of picking a new sectional (have the rug and ordered ottomans thinking we had the sectional picked out). I have been looking at paint and was thinking of a softened, greyed beige. I had ruled out those with green undertones, but the linen color above and the green in the rug have me reconsidering. There is a BM Pale Oak that I like a lot, but I may want something a little darker -- it is very pale. Need to get the sectional nailed down and then will start with paint samples. Plan for the sectional has been blue.

Thank you all! I'm still waiting for my GC to come and take a look to see if he can restore the built-ins to a wood finish. I will let you know what happens. (Btw, remodel is scheduled to start end of the month and take 2 1/2 months--kitchen and bathroom gut with some domino effects of other structural changes--so I'm assuming end of July before there's any possibility of finished pictures.)

Decision made! Original built ins in kitchen will be whipple blue and walls will be blue stream. Bathroom vanity will be paddington blue and walls will be grey cloud.

(Built ins could not be restored to wood.)

Thank you all very much!

Post a photo when it is done. Sorry you couldn't restore the wood, but glad you have a fun idea to make it new and personalize it. Have fun!

So glad you stayed with your original inspiration. It will be lovely!